It has made a difference, regardless of what other managers might say.

He Is a Myth Buster

4 of 5

As the introduction to this piece highlighted, one of the main reasons why Sam Allardyce is not given the full credit he deserves is that people still believe the myth about him.

The myth that his teams can only play one way: the direct way.

No matter what Allardyce has achieved in his career (and the players he has had) the accusation that his teams play one-dimentional, robotic football with no style or grace has never left him.

What a load of rubbish.

While it is true that Allardyce's sides are direct and they are physical, it is by no means their only facet.

Anyone who saw West Ham's 3-1 win over Chelsea in December 2012 will know just how Sam Allardyce's teams can play—with style.

It was the same last season in the Championship. It is somehow all too easy to forget.

That has always been the case, whether it has been Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn or now at West Ham.

Allardyce's teams find the "pretty" way to win when they can.

As he pointed out when he took over, in recent seasons "pretty" at West Ham has just been another word for losing.

For Allardyce it is about finding the most effective way to win.

And winning is what survival is all about.

He Is Establishing West Ham in the Premier League

5 of 5

No one at Upton Park will want to count their chickens, but the club are very close to securing their Premier League status for another season.

When you consider where they were two years ago, that's a fairly remarkable achievement.

If getting out of the Championship is not hard enough, surviving the following season in the top flight is even more of a challenge.

Over the last decade, only one of the three teams that come up every season can expect to still be in the Premier League five years later.

Even if the Hammers do stay up this season, the fight to become a regular in the elite just intensifies.

With the club's board doing its best to handle its debts, the move to a new home at the Olympic Stadium offers the prospects of a brighter, more secure and prosperous future—despite the criticism the announcement has brought.

Allardyce is not yet guaranteed of being at the club when they make the move across East London in 2016.